“Burks has been a life long Democrat and has worked with the Democratic Party in voter education and outreach as well as has improved and implemented policies and procedures for the Harris County Democratic Party.”

Get it?

Mr. Burks is a Republican if you are a Republican, and he is Democrat if you are Democrat.

And if you are a Green or Libertarian, I’m sure that can be worked out as well.

I’m not telling you I have a great deal of confidence in Kristi Thibaut or Jolanda Jones. Ms. Thibaut will play it safe and likely never champion the disenfranchised in Houston. Ms. Jones will allow her conduct to get in the way of her advocacy for the people she represents.

The issue is that you should not be allowed to play all sides as Mr. Burks is seeking to do. Beliefs matter. Party matters. Houston was a 61% Obama city in 2008. We should not give away an advantage.

Nothing matters but the bottom line of public policy and partisan advantage as the high stakes election of 2012 draws near.

What I’ll be doing is voting for Ms. Thibaut and Ms. Jones in the runoff, and then giving them a hard time after the election.

We should expect more of candidates for office and of the people that we elect.

More importantly, we should expect more of ourselves. We don’t have to accept candidates for office who are on every side, and we don’t have to accept Democrats who take our support on Election Day but who are not on our side after Election Day.

The Harris County Republican Party Advisory Board has voted to endorse the following candidates in the upcoming City Of Houston Runoff Elections. The following are the most qualified, conservative candidates and, as early voting approaches, we will highlight each candidate. In the meantime, please visit their websites (see below).

How can Mr. Rodriguez well-serve any HISD student? The rights and dignity of all people are connected.

If Mr. Rodriguez has a problem with gay folks, who can be certain that Mr. Rodriguez will champion the success of any HISD student?

There will be an upcoming protest to call for Mr. Rodriguez’s resignation.

I encourage all freedom loving Houstonians to attend this event.

It would be great that if in addition to an informed and outraged general public taking part in efforts to call for Mr. Rodriguez’s resignation, we were also to see coordinated efforts among Houston’s various civil rights groups.

Folks can’t go on just speaking up when their own concerns are the issue. We will never make progress if that is how we operate.

Mr. Rodriguez’s hate mongering is an attack on all people and it is a call to action for all people.

Here are details of the protest—

JOIN US in protest of HISD School Board Trustee Manuel Rodriguez, who according to the Houston Chronicle, displayed “appalling homophobia” over the weekend. The HISD School Board is the LAST place that we want this kind of homophobia to be in power.

Republican Houston City Council At-Large # 5 candidate Jack Christie recently sent out a campaign mailer in which I am quoted. Mr. Christie is in a runoff election against incumbent Democrat Jolanda Jones.

(Above–Smiling Jack Christie.)

Here is what Mr. Christie quotes me as saying about Ms. Jones—

“Her story on Council seems in good part to be of an opportunity missed.”

I did indeed write that. What is not mentioned, however, is that I also endorsed Ms. Jones in the very same blog post Mr. Christie used to get that line you see above.

“Only you know if you want to support Jolanda Jones for one last term. She is always involved in some type of fuss. Sometimes it seems to be her fault, while other times it is not her fault. In any case, you wish that Ms. Jones was a more disciplined and effective advocate for the poor and disenfranchised in Houston. Her story on Council seems in good part to be of an opportunity missed. After some thought, I’ve decided I’m going to vote for Ms. Jones. Ms. Jones made a recent visit to Occupy Houston and I appreciate that fact. I’m not aware of any other incumbent city official who has done the same.”

That is not a ringing endorsement. But it is an endorsement. If you are a liberal, or a Democrat of any stripe in our majority Democratic city of Houston, Jolanda Jones is a far better choice than Jack Christie.

It is fun enough to get your mail and see your name being used to oppose a candidate you support. That is how it goes sometimes in these type things and I got a good laugh out of it. But the fact remains that what Mr. Christie is conveying in his campaign literature is simply not the case. I support Ms. Jones.

I saw Mr. Christie speak at the Meyerland Democratic Club meeting last week. The club’s president, Art Pronin, was gracious enough to allow Mr. Christie to address the group for a few minutes.

Mr. Christie repaid this kindness with rudeness. Instead of addressing issues, Mr. Christie spoke about how Ms. Jones dresses for Houston City Council meetings. What he was talking about had nothing to do with City Council business. Why is what a woman wears part of the debate? In what other ways does Mr. Christie have antiquated views about the place of women in our society?

It is Ms. Jones rather than Mr. Christie who best represents the political and policy views of the people of Houston.

Mr. Christie says he will bring a new and allegedly better tone to Houston City Council. Yet he uses campaign materials to convey false impressions, and on the campaign trail he offers obnoxious behavior in return for decency.

At least Ms. Jones tells you upfront who she is as a person. She gives you the chance to take it or leave it. Mr. Christie, in sharp contrast, is a phony. He does not merit your support.

Here is the weekly posting of the Texas Progressive Alliance round-up. The TPA is a confederation of the best political bloggers in Texas. TPA members are citizen-bloggers working for a better Texas.

Every Texan and every American has the ability to attend a public meeting, attend or organize a protest, write or call an elected official, talk to friends and family, start a blog, donate money, write a letter to the editor, volunteer for candidates and causes, engage in acts of civil disobedience, and to run for public office.

With the round- up this week are some details of a meet and greet for Texas Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Sean Hubbard. Mr. Hubbard has been campaigning as a progressive to some extent as he seeks to win the 2012 Democratic primary. It could all be an act to win the primary and then ditch his base in the general election. But folks at least merit a listen.

After you die your life gets distilled to a kind of irreducible essence.

He or she was this type or that type of person. He or she enjoyed one thing or another. He or she thought whatever about the issue of the moment.

There is really nothing sad about this. It just points me to the view that existence is vast and we each have a part.

I suppose some people may be seen as having played a larger role than others. Though it is good to be dubious of the perceptions of both the few and the many. You can never be certain of the impact a person has had in life.

All you can do is try to be the person you want to be when you are here, and the person you hope to be recalled as when you are gone.

Occupy Wall Street should stay outside the two major parties and should not be co-opted into the Obama 2012 campaign.

Occupy needs to exert pressure on both parties from the outside, train leaders and activists for the fights ahead, and provide a place for people who feel that big money has corrupted the process on both sides of the aisle.

A great two-volume of De Gaulle was written by Jean Lacouture. The first volume is called De Gaulle–The Rebel, 1890-1944. Here is a review of that book. The second volume is De Gaulle–The Ruler, 1945-1970.

Aware of his duties as a leader of the French resistance and as President of France, while at the same time never losing a sense of the absurd, Charles De Gaulle has long been one of my favorite figures of history.

Nobody was hurt except for the gunman who was wounded by Houston police.

Thank you to Houston police who risked their safety to apprehend the gunman. I hope the shooter gets the help he needs. The Houston Chronicle reported that he was 21 years old. I hope he can find his way at some point.

At Occupy Houston, there was still some press around in the evening after the shooting.

But the nightly general assembly went on as usual.

I was at Occupy Houston in the evening, but not at the time of the shooting.

This pledge is also more important that preserving basic safety net programs for people having a hard time in this recession.

Of course the thing is we are better off with the Supercommittee not reaching a deal.

Here is a comment from a New York Times comment board that says it well—

In truth, “Failure” is the preferred option. “Failure” preserves social insurance and health care for the poor, disabled, and elderly, and preserves the prospect that the Bush tax cuts will expire. Those elements alone will reduce the deficit far more than any deal they would have cut. And, we have the additional prospect of at least minimal cuts to the bloated DoD budget.

What’s not to like?

In good part due to Occupy Wall Street, the national discussion is somewhat different from what it was a few months ago.

There is plenty of talk now about income inequality and options other than austerity.

As the debate shifts in our nation, there is no reason to give in to folks who have no plan other than help for the most wealthy, and a shifting of burdens to everyday working people, young people, and retired people.

Let’s keep working hard to move the debate even more so towards hope for the future and jobs that pay fair wages.

The regular monthly meeting of Meyerland Democrats is held at Fadi’s Mediterranean Grill, located at 4738 Beechnut. Dinner is at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting starts at 7 p.m. There is no charge to attend, but attendees pay for their own food and drinks. The Meyerland Area Democrats Club is made up primarily of residents of election precincts in the Meyerland area, including Westbury, Maplewood and Marilyn Estates.

Here is the most recent Texas Progressive Alliance round-up. The TPA is a confederation of the best political bloggers in Texas. TPA members are citizen-bloggers working for a better Texas.

Every Texan and every American has the ability to attend a public meeting, attend or organize a protest, write or call an elected official, talk to friends and family, start a blog, donate money, write a letter to the editor, volunteer for candidates and causes, engage in acts of civil disobedience, and to run for public office.

With the round-up this week are a few facts about Thanksgiving in Texas. While we associate the first Thanksgiving with Plymouth, Massachusetts, there are some who assert that the first Thanksgiving in what would be later become the United States took place in El Paso in 1598.

“El Paso residents now claim the first Thanksgiving in North America. The modern event, first observed in April 1989, commemorates a day of thanksgiving celebrated by Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate and his expedition on April 30, 1598.”

The upshot is that this Juan de Onate and his expedition of discovery in what is now northern Mexico and the El Paso area endured the standard trials of Indian attacks, heat, and thirst, until it came upon the Rio Grande River where all the people and all the animals could finally have some water to drink and some food to eat.

(Above–A book about Juan de Onate. It seems he is relatively well-known in some circles. I’d not heard of him before.)

A celebration of thanksgiving was ordered—

“A member of the expedition wrote of the original celebration, “We built a great bonfire and roasted the meat and fish, and then all sat down to a repast the like of which we had never enjoyed before….”

If you read the Texas Almanac article who will also learn of a claim of celebration of Thanksgiving in the future Texas that dates back to 1541.

I would imagine that feasts or celebrations of thanksgiving have taken place in one way or another for a very long time and in a number of places.

Please have a good and safe Thanksgiving holiday. Treat other people well.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson points out that Republicans in Texas are boxed in. They know know taxes must be raised to run our state’s government, but can’t bring themselves to say it, much less do it: Texas GOP’s cowardice.

On the same night Houston Mayor Annise Parker celebrated barely being re-elected, a few blocks away the HPD arrested seven Occupy Houstonians for refusing to move a tarp which the police called a tent. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs doesn’t think that’s a great way to start a second term … unless she plans on again representing the 1%, that is. Continue reading →